1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a base plate for fixing an object onto an installation surface. More specifically, the invention relates to a base plate for fixing a piping member used in pipelines in a chemical plant, a water and sewerage system, an agricultural or fisheries system, and other various manufacturing apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional fixing structure for fixing a piping member such as a valve onto an installation surface in pipelines, a structure for attaching the piping member to a fixing surface of a flow rate adjusting valve as shown in FIG. 14 has been known (e.g., see Japanese Unexampled Patent Publication JP-A-3-255281). According to the structure described in JP-A-3-255281, side surfaces 303 of casing bodies 302 of adjacent flow rate adjusting valves 301 are brought in contact together in order to couple a plurality of flow rate adjusting valves 301 together. The group of flow rate adjusting valves 301 is fixed on an installation surface by means of a bracket 308 having an L-shape cross section. The flow Late adjusting valve 301 has grooves 304 extending on both of the side surfaces 303 and onto an upper surface 305 of the casing body. A coupling rod 307 is fittingly inserted into an opening portion 306 formed at an end of the groove 304 on the upper surface 305 to couple the flow rate adjusting valves 301 to each other. The bracket 308 includes a longitudinal piece with the length substantially equal to the height of the casing body 302, and a transverse piece. While an engaging hook 309 provided at an upper end of the longitudinal piece is fittingly inserted into the opening portion 306, bolts are inserted through bolt holes 310 formed in the transverse piece to fix the bracket 308 onto the installation surface.
With the structure for attaching the piping member to the fixing portion of the flow rate adjusting valve described in JP-A-3-255281, however, in order to bring the bracket 308 into contact with the side surface of the flow rate adjusting valve 301, and to fittingly insert the engaging hook 309 of the bracket 308 into the opening portion 306 on the upper surface 305 of the casing body 302, the surface to which the bracket 308 of the flow rate adjusting valve 301 is attached must be a flat surface without ledge. For this purpose, the flow rate adjusting valve 301 must have an outer shape of a rectangular parallelepiped or cube without a ledge, thus limiting application of the bracket 308. Further, since the longitudinal piece of the bracket 308 covers the whole side surface of the flow rate adjusting valve 301, the bigger the flow rate adjusting valve 301 is, the bigger the bracket 308 must be. Therefore, the bracket 308 must be provided for the flow rate adjusting valve 301 of each size. Further, since the bracket 308 can be only attached to the limited side surface of the flow rate adjusting valve 301, when the flow rate adjusting valves 301 are being installed in a narrow place with many pipes or equipment, the transverse piece of the bracket 308 may pose a risk of interfering with obstacles near the installation place, thus limiting where the flow rate adjusting valves 301 can be installed.
The object of the present invention is to provide a base plate which can be applied to a wide range of objects, with greater applicability, allowing the object to be easily fixed even in a narrow and tight place.